N.C, DMV Admits Screwing Up in Denying ID to Elderly Voter

The commissioner of the NC DMV admits that employees at an Asheville field office made a big mistake turning away 86-year-old Reba Bowser when she tried to get an ID, so that she could vote.

As The INDY first reported Wednesday, Bowser was denied because she changed her "maiden name" to the middle when she got married in Pennsylvania — and didn't have the original marriage license handy to prove it.

“We messed that one up,” DMV Commissioner Kelly J. Thomas said in an interview. “We made a mistake. We're going to try to correct it on Friday.”

Reba Miller Bowser moved to North Carolina in 2012. Her son helped her fill out a voter registration application last weekend. He drove her to their local DMV office on Monday for the photo identity card she needs under North Carolina's 2013 voter ID law.

The INDY story was updated Thursday with new information from Bowser's daughter in-law Amy Knisley. She says that a $10 check is in the mail to the Lancaster County marriage records office in Pennsylvania, with hopes that a new marriage license will arrive soon.